said to have been first brought into notice by James the Second, who, when Duke of York, came hither with his Duchess, and his two daughters, afterwards the Queens Mary and Anne.

GROOMBRIDGE, a Chapelry to Speldhurst, was anciently a possession of the Cobhams, who obtained license to hold a weekly market here in the fourteenth of Edward the First. This family alienated it to the Clintons, who again alienated it, in the reign of Henry the Fourth, to Thomas Waller, Esq. of Lamberhurst, whose grandson, Richard, says Philipott, "was that renowned soldier that, in the time of Henry the Fifth, took Charles, Duke of Orleans, General of the French Army, prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt, brought him over into England, and held him in honorable restraint, or custody, at Grome-Bridge; which a manyscript in the Herald's office notes to be twenty-four years; in the time of which his recess, he newly erected the house at GromeBridge, upon the old foundation; and was a benefactor to the repair of Speldhurst Church, where his arms remain in stone-work over the porch." This Richard Waller was afterwards Sheriff of Sussex, and also of Kent, in the twelfth and sixteenth of Henry the Sixth. He was ancestor to Waller, the Parliamentary General, whose father sold this estate to the Earl of Dorset in the reign of James the First, since which period it has had various possessors. Many of the Wallers were buried, and had monuments, in SPELDHURST CHURCH, which was a handsome building; but being set on fire by lightning during a dreadful storm on the twenty-second of October, 1791, it was reduced to a heap of ruins. Even the bells were melted by the intense heat; and all the monuments were destroyed.

PENSHURST, the far-famed residence of the SYDNEYS for two centuries, and still so of their descendant, by the female line, John Shelley Sydney, Esq. was the ancient seat of the Pencestres, or Penchesters, who were settled here in the Norman times; and one of whom was Sir Stephen de Penchester, that "famous Lord Warden of the Five Ports, and Constable of Dover Castle," Oooo 2

* Villare Cantianum, p. 320.

who

who flourished in the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First. Harris says, 'he was a very learned man; and ordered all the muniments, grants, &c. relating to Dover Castle, to be writ ten in a fair book, which he called Castelli Feodarium; and out of which, Darell composed his history of that fortress."* Dying without male issue, his estates were divided between his two daughters, and co-heiresses, Joane, married to Henry de Cobham, of Roundal, in Shorne;+ and Alice, matched to John de Columbers: the latter, jure uxoris, became possessed of this and some adjoining manors, which soon afterwards were conveyed to Sir John de Polteney, or Poultney; who, in the fifteenth of Edward the Second, had license to embattle his Mausion-houses at Penshurst; Chenle, in Cambridgeshire; and in Candlewick Street, London. In the next reign he was four times Lord Mayor of London; and is noticed by our historians for his piety, wisdom, large possessions, public charities, magnificent housekeeping, and munificence in his buildings, in the Metropolis.' His widow, remarrying to the Lovaines, conveyed these estates into that family, with the consent of her first busband's immediate heirs; and they afterwards passed, by an heiress, to Sir Philip St. Clere, of Aldham St. Clere, in Ightham; whose son sold them to the Regent Duke of Bedford. On his decease at Paris, in the fourteenth of Henry the Sixth, Penshurst, and other manors, descended to his next brother, Humphrey, the Good Duke of Glocester; after whose sad death, in 1447, they descended to the King; and were, in the same year, granted to the Staffords. On the attainder of Edward, Duke of Buckingham, the possessions of this family fell to the Crown; and Henry the Eighth retained Penshurst in his own hands for many years; and also enlarged the park. Edward the Sixth gave this Manor, with its appurtenances, to Sir Ralph Fane; who, within two years, was executed as an accomplice of the Protector Somerset: soon after which, the young King granted Penshurst, with other neighbouring estates, to SIR WILLIAM SYDNEY, one of the heroes of Flodden Field, who had been his Tutor, Chamberlain, and Stew. ard

*Hist. of Kent, p. 485.

+ See under Shorne, p. 585,-6.

The London Mansion was called Polteney's Inns

ard of his Houshold, from his birth to luis coronation;' and was lineally descended from Sir William Sydney, Knt. Chamberlain to Henry the Second, with whom he came from Anjou.

This gentleman died in the following year, anno 1553, at the age of seventy; and was succeeded by his son and heir, SIR HENRY SYDNEY, a learned and accomplished Knight, who had been educated with Edward the Sixth. The premature death of this youthful Monarch, who expired in his arms, affected Sir Henry with sincere grief; and he retired to Penshurst to indulge his melancholy: here he soon afterwards sheltered the ruined family of his father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland; in whose fall he would, probably, have been implicated, but for this fortunate retirement. He died when Lord President of the Welch Marches, in the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth; and his body was buried by the Queen's order, with great solemnity, at Penshurst; but his heart was interred at Ludlow, the seat of his government.* Ooo 03

He

The following account of Sir Henry is extracted from Mr. Brydges's History of Penshurst, and the Sydney Family,' printed in the Kentish Register for the years 1793 and 4.

"Sir Henry Sydney was, from his infancy, bred and brought up with Edward VI. He was entered a student of New College, Oxford, in 1543; and became at that time a master of many languages; whence he returned to court, became one of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber to Edward VI, was knighted, and immediately (at the age of 22 years) sent Embassador to France, where he distinguished himself far beyond his years. In the 2d and 3d of Phillip and Mary (1556) he was appointed Vice Treasurer, and General Governor of the Revenues in Ireland; and soon after sole Lord Justice; in the government of which kingdom he continued till 1578, 22 years; and was also, during the greater part of this time, Lord President of Wales, (viz. from the 2d of Elizabeth, 1560;) two of the greatest offices which a subject can hold; and which I believe have never before, or since, been held together. To these high honours was added, in the 6 Eliz. the Order of the GARTER. Few characters will rise brighter from the closest examination than that of Sir Henry Sydney. His private letters and state memorials,* have now for several years been laid before the public. The state of Ireland was then such, that it could not be committed to a vain man of rank as a feather to his cap: it was involved

Sydney Papers, 2 Vols. fo. 1746.